Structure of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides R-26 reaction center

Abstract

The molecular replacement method has been successfully used to provide a structure for the photosynthetic reaction center of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides at 3.7 A resolution. Atomic coordinates derived from the R. viridis reaction center were used in the search structure. The crystallographic R-factor is 0.39 for reflections between 8 and 3.7 A. Validity of the resulting model is further suggested by the visualization of amino acid side chains not included in the R. viridis search structure, and by the arrangements of the reaction centers in the unit cell. In the initial calculations quinones or pigments were not included; nevertheless, in the resulting electron density map, electron density for both quinones QA and QB appears along with the bacteriochlorophylls and bacteriopheophytins. Kinetic analysis of the charge recombination shows that the secondary quinone is fully functional in the R. sphaeroides crystal.